The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday made its first arrests in the NEET-UG paper leak case and detained two men from Bihar. The two accused, identified as Manish Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar, were arrested from Patna.
Reportedly, Ashutosh is accused of providing premises where NEET aspirants studied the leaked question paper, while Manish allegedly arranged the paper.
The two men had been called by the agency for questioning on Thursday and before arresting them.
The CBI has so far registered six First Information Reports (FIRs) in the NEET paper leak case with the first being filed on Sunday, a day after the Ministry of Education announced that the investigation would be handed over to the central agency.
CBI Takes Over Latur Case
Meanwhile, in Maharashtra, Latur police have interrogated parents of 12 students whose exam hall tickets were seized from teachers accused in the NEET case. These parents, from Beed, had sent their children to Latur for private coaching with assurances of scoring over 550 marks.
An intermediary allegedly approached parents on behalf of the accused, Pathan, promising high scores in exchange for money. Jadhav, who is also implicated in the case, received commissions from these transactions. Police suspect the parents may be witnesses in the case. Pathan reportedly funneled money received into his wife’s account, totaling Rs 7 lakh so far.
A day earlier, the central agency quizzed the principal of a private school in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh who is under the scanner in connection with the paper-leak case. The federal agency quizzed Oasis School principal Ehsanul Haque, who was also the district coordinator of the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of the Bihar Police, which was probing the case earlier, had found burnt question papers of the NEET-UG during a raid at a hideout of the solver gang. In a statement, the EOU had said the leaked NEET-UG question paper was allegedly obtained from the Oasis School in Hazaribagh by the notorious Sanjeev Kumar alias Lutan Mukhiya gang.
It had said the investigators had matched a partially-burnt question paper found from the Patna safe house with the reference question paper provided by the NTA, confirming the leak’s origin. However, it could not clearly establish who was behind the alleged paper leak, the officials said.
In media interviews, Haque has maintained that the box carrying the question papers could not be opened because its digital lock, which was supposed to unlock automatically, had malfunctioned. Following this, he contacted the NTA, which asked him to use a cutter to open the box.
The boxes carrying question papers have two locks — a manual one that must be opened with a key and cutter and a digital lock that opens with a beep 45 minutes before the examination. The CBI took the evidence collected by the investigators and held deliberations with the officers of the EOU. The EOU has arrested 18 people in connection with the case. The CBI is likely to seek their remand.
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